Pro Day Tour: Versatility in Tulsa

Bill Huber

03/07/2011

We begin our daily pursuit of the Packers' scouts as they scour the nation for top draft prospects and unheralded gems.

The draft process is officially in its third phase. The all-star games and Scouting Combine are complete; now, scouts are flying and driving to here, there and everywhere to visit pro days all around the country.

Baylor led things off on Thursday, with Troy and Tulane on Friday. Tulsa had its pro day on Monday, and a source said the Packers' Alonzo Highsmith was in attendance.

The draftable prospect at Tulsa was fullback/tight end Charles Clay, who was the Golden Hurricanes' second-leading receiver last year with 43 catches for 526 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. Clay (6-3, 239) was a four-year starter at H-back who finished his career with 2,544 receiving yards, 911 rushing yards and 38 total touchdowns.

Insiders question what Clay's position would be in the NFL, which is exactly what would make him an intriguing addition with a midround draft pick. The Packers use tight ends Andrew Quarless and Tom Crabtree as fullbacks half the time anyway, so Clay would have the ability to make plays as a receiver and the experience to do the dirty work inside.

— On Thursday, Highsmith was the Packers' representative at Baylor, where one of their favorite prospects, Danny Watkins, went through position drills. Here's our story on Watkins from the Scouting Combine. A left tackle in college, Watkins is thought best-suited to play guard. Green Bay loves versatile linemen and has a potential hole at left guard, depending on the fate of incumbent starter Daryn Colledge.

— Another player the Packers interviewed at the Combine, Troy's Jerrel Jernigan, ran 40-yard times in a reported 4.32 and 4.38 seconds, caught punts and ran routes at the school's pro day. We are looking for confirmation on whether a Packers scout was toting a stopwatch there. (Update: The Packers were there.) The 5-foot-9 Jernigan — a second-round prospect — doesn't fit the Packers' profile as a receiver but he'd be a dynamic return threat. To upgrade a woeful special teams, coach Mike McCarthy sounded open to working the offense around a talent who might not fit the team's desired height parameters.

"If a guy can be a good returner, we've got to have packages for him on offense, too," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the paper's one-on-one interview at the Combine.

— Only three teams sent a scout to Tulane; the Packers were not among them.

Bill Huber is publisher of Packer Report magazine and PackerReport.com and has written for Packer Report since 1997. E-mail him at packwriter2002@yahoo.com, or leave him a question in Packer Report's subscribers-only Packers Pro Club forum. Find Bill on Twitter at twitter.com/packerreport and Facebook under Bill Huber.